Individual and work-unit measures of psychological demands and decision latitude and the use of antihypertensive medication

Purpose To analyse whether psychological demands and decision latitude measured on individual and work-unit level were related to prescription of antihypertensive medication. Methods A total of 3,421 women and 897 men within 388 small work units completed a questionnaire concerning psychological wor...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International archives of occupational and environmental health 2015-04, Vol.88 (3), p.311-319
Main Authors: Daugaard, S., Andersen, J. H., Grynderup, M. B., Stokholm, Z. A., Rugulies, R., Hansen, Å. M., Kærgaard, A., Mikkelsen, S., Bonde, J. P., Thomsen, J. F., Christensen, K. L., Kolstad, H. A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Antihypertensive Agents - therapeutic use
Decision Making
Denmark - epidemiology
Earth and Environmental Science
Environment
Environmental Health
Epidemiology
Female
Humans
Hypertension
Hypertension - drug therapy
Hypertension - psychology
Logistic Models
Male
Middle Aged
Occupational Diseases - epidemiology
Occupational Diseases - psychology
Occupational Medicine/Industrial Medicine
Occupational stress
Original Article
Registries
Rehabilitation
Sex Distribution
Smoking - epidemiology
Stress, Psychological - psychology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Work
Workplace - psychology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Purpose To analyse whether psychological demands and decision latitude measured on individual and work-unit level were related to prescription of antihypertensive medication. Methods A total of 3,421 women and 897 men within 388 small work units completed a questionnaire concerning psychological working conditions according to the job strain model. Mean levels of psychological demands and decision latitude were computed for each work unit to obtain exposure measures that were less influenced by reporting bias. Dispensed antihypertensive medication prescriptions were identified in The Danish National Prescription Registry. Odds ratios (OR) comparing the highest and lowest third of the population at individual and work-unit level, respectively, were estimated by multilevel logistic regression adjusted for confounders. Psychological demands and decision latitude were tested for interaction. Supplementary analyses of 21 months follow-up were conducted. Results Among women, increasing psychological demands at individual (adjusted OR 1.54; 95 % CI 1.02–2.33) and work-unit level (adjusted OR 1.41; 95 % CI 1.04–1.90) was significantly associated with purchase of antihypertensive medication. No significant association was found for decision latitude. Follow-up results supported an association with psychological demands but they were not significant. All results for men showed no association. Psychological demands and decision latitude did not interact. Conclusion High psychological work demands were associated with the purchase of prescribed antihypertensive medication among women. This effect was present on both the work-unit and the individual level. Among men there were no associations. The lack of interaction between psychological demands and decision latitude did not support the job strain model.
ISSN:0340-0131
1432-1246
DOI:10.1007/s00420-014-0958-1